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i've tried twice and the CC transaction (Rome/Siena roundtrip by bus in May) has been rejected twice. I called my credit card company, and there's nothing wrong with my card. So the problem must be with SENA.

I recently tried unsuccessfully to use my credit card for an overseas booking and it was rejected. My bank told me there's no problem - they weren't blocking it. I tried another CC and it worked. I have no explanation but that's what worked for me.

I would prefer to get this matter out of the way as soon as possible. I like to wrap things up when I can. I mean, the website should work. We'll see if it does.

I've been told by more than one person in earlier posts that the bus is the preferred way from Rome to Siena, that the train is an inferior option (rickety trains, the need to transfer, etc.). One of my guidebooks says the same thing. So I want to ensure I get my specific travel times via the bus.

We took the bus from Rome to Siena and were pleased with this option. The bus dropped us off within the walled city (Piazza Gramsci). The bus station in Rome is next to the Tiburtina train station.

When your payment is rejected do you get an error message? If it's in Italian copy and paste it on this thread. I'll try to translate it for you.

Are you travelling on a public holiday? Also have you checked the two little boxes down the bottom of the booking form? What fare type are you purchasing? What is your departure and destination points? I ask all this because I found the bus booking sites at times were not good at explaining why the transaction didn't go through. For eg. when I tried to book a ticket for Siena to Florence with one bus company (maybe Sena?) it kept rejecting it. In exasperation I ended up phoning the company. It turned out they do not operate the service on a Monday. Pity the error message didn't explain this in the first place!

I've tried four times, three times yesterday, once this morning. Same result. Same message:

"Dear Client: Key Client's on-line payment management system has sent the transaction requested with your payment card to the issuer/producer of said card, which has NOT authorized the transaction."

That would seem to indicate that my MasterCard issuer, Citi, is not authorizing the transaction for some reason. I called Citi twice, once yesterday, and again this morning after my fourth attempt to purchase my bus ticket. Same message from a Citi rep: My card is perfectly fine. There should be no problem. However, Citi also said that they are not only NOT blocking the transaction, they don't even have a record from Sena requesting an authorization at all. Not a single one. After four purchasing attempts.

In trying to buy my ticket, I have completed all the information requested by Sena. There are no messages in red telling me that I have failed to provide data crucial to the completion of the transaction. I hit the "buy" button, the processing mechanism is triggered, but the result is always the same annoying message of non-authorization.

Yesterday I sent an e-mail to Sena/Gruppo Baltour asking about my problem. Their reply this morning:

"We are sorry for your inconvenience. If your card does not work on our website you will have to purchase your ticket once you get to Italy in one of our ticket offices. In Rome, you can go to Tiburtina Station, which is also where the departure will be."

If I have to trot over to Tiburtina a day or two before I want to go to Siena to get my bus ticket, I guess I'll have to do it. What worries me is that the bus might be sold out, or at least sold out for the time I want to leave Rome for Siena. Is this a realistic concern? Will I be able to get my ticket on the 8th and, for that matter, my return to Rome on the 15th?

Should I ask my hotel in Rome (Hotel Portoghesi) to help me out here, by giving them my bus travel info/CC info and asking them to call to secure my ticket? I really don't want to call Italy from the U.S. for my bus ticket and run up a big phone bill.

One last note: I used my MasterCard last Friday to purchase an entry ticket to the Borghese Gallery in May. No problem. It went through without a hitch.

<<Did you tell the credit card company you're expecting a charge from overseas? Otherwise they think it's fraud.>>

Legitimate question. But no, that's not the issue. I talked to them this morning about this, and they're not blocking any transaction from Italy because they think it's fraud. Citi let my Borghese Gallery ticket request through with no problem last Friday. Just to be safe, I underscored this morning that I might be making other purchases for Italy prior to departing for Rome on May 8. I also gave Citi my Italy travel dates for May. After I gave Citi all this further info, I then tried a fifth time to purchase my bus tickets. Again, no dice.

Interesting issue: My current Citi MasterCard is only a week ago. On the 17th of this month, just 10 days ago, I got a fraud alert call from Citi. Did I just make a $60 purchase from some company in the Ukraine? The Ukraine? I sure didn't. So they told me to trash my MasterCard and they've since sent me a new MC, which I quickly activated and have used since then for Italy, for the Borghese Gallery ticket I purchased last Friday. So I can't see that being an issue at all with regard to my bus tickets.

Your Borghese transaction may have caused MC to think your card has been hacked and they aren't allowing any more transactions (no matter what a random rep is telling you). Some companies automatically block after one online purchase in Italy. If you called MC before any purchases and told them to flag your account for online Italian purchases, you should typically call back in 24 hours and make sure they processed your request before attempting purchases.

Try a Visa card although I'm 100% certain I used my MC on Sena (Baltour) in the past.

What date are you trying to book? I wouldn't worry so much about selling out as these buses are frequent.

I did a quick test (created a fake name/phone number/e-mail) and when it rolled over to the payment screen it said you must have the Mastercard secure code from the back of the card. Did you click the box that you agree to terms? Enter the secure code from the back of the card?

While the Baltour website shows the secure code as being on the back of the card, there is a separate secure code you arrange through MC. I vaguely remember setting this up on my card at some point. You register with MC and set a password, etc. Visa has something similar (Verified by Visa). The photos on Baltour show MC Securecode and Verified by Visa.

My saga continues. I don't have quite enough to turn it into a mini-series for HBO, but I'm getting there.

Is MC blocking me? Well, two separate reps say no. And Citi let my Borghese Gallery MC ticket purchase go through last Friday with my new card, so why would they block the bus tickets a few days later? The real issue here: Citi is telling me they're getting nothing from Sena when I try to buy my bus tickets, no message from Sena asking Citi to authorize any bus ticket purchase, so Citi has had NOTHING to block.

Yes, I inserted my three-digit security code, and I checked the various little boxes having to do with data, blah blah blah. And, as I said, there have been no immediate messages from Sena telling me I have failed to include data crucial to completion of the transaction, those red or pink (usually) messages that pop up telling you that you've omitted something important and indicating that you can't proceed further until they are inserted.

As for a separate security code beyond the typical three-digit code, well, I never arranged with Citi for anything like that. I've never needed anything like that before, and I've made lots of online travel transactions for Europe over the past several years.

As for my travel dates, I arrive at da Vinci on May 5. A few full days in Rome. Then I head (I hope) to Siena on May 8 and essentially plant myself there, though I plan a day trip to Arezzo (Piero della Francesca frescoes, here I come, on May 10) and possibly a day trip to Pienza or Montepulciano or some other attractive Tuscan town. I leave Siena for Rome on May 15, for a few more days there before heading home.

If I can't get my bus Rome/Siena tickets online, I'll likely go over to Tiburtina on May 6, hoping to get a morning bus from Rome to Siena for May 8 and a morning bus from Siena back to Rome on May 15. (I have specific times in mind and checked those off online, I just don't remember those exact times in the morning at the moment.)

I don't know if this was tried, but somewhere I heard that when dealing with some locally based international businesses from the US (I assume you are in the US) it was recommended that you put yourself in current travel status with your CC. Have you tried that with Citi? I had to do that with my CC to purchase SAS tickets a while back. Just a thought. Good luck with your issue

If you're going to be in Rome for 5 days, wouldn't the sensible thing to do be to just go buy the ticket there? You've probably used up enough time on this by now to have walked miles all over Rome picking up a ticket. I guess maybe you're worried about using that card once you're on the ground? If so, try getting a different card. Just a thought.

When i looked up Citibank on that SecureCode website you generously provided, i discovered that Citibank does not participate in the program. Two of my three banks do. I'll go to one of them, possibly today, to obtain a MasterCard with the SecureCode affiliation. Then I'll try the Sena bus website.

It couldn't hurt having this extra credit card option in any event, for other possible purchases down the line, here and abroad.

As for getting my bus tickets at Tiburtina: If that finally is my only alternative, I guess it's not a problem. I would prefer the convenience of an online ticket and forgoing an extra trip to a bus station when my travel time in Rome could be better spent, but ...

I'll let you know how this turns out. My dilemma and its conclusion, one way or another, could be useful information for someone else in the future.